


Playing the Part

by SanFransokyoStreets



Category: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Genre: Accidental Kissing, Awkward Boners, Bullying, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Falling In Love, M/M, Name-Calling, Severe Bullying, Sharing a Bed, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-06
Updated: 2015-08-03
Packaged: 2018-03-16 13:19:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3489689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SanFransokyoStreets/pseuds/SanFransokyoStreets
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hiro and Tadashi have a very inventive way of ignoring bullies. Pretending to be in love can end up building some very real feelings though.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Kiss

The bag was set down, an unnecessary blockade between their bodies.

The elder reached out and cupped the younger’s cheek, a gentle look in his eyes as he leaned closer and closer their faces mere inches apart.

“Nii-sama I…”

“Shh, you don’t have to tell me, I already know.”

Unshed tears glistened in the boy’s eyes and he nuzzled into the hand caressing his face

The elder gazed down with half lidded eyes, moving even closer until their breath mixed together.

“Hiro…”

“Tadashi…”

“GODDAMNIT, STOP! What the hell! How can the two of you do that with straight faces?!”

The odd scene abruptly shattered as one of the bystanders yelled out. Hiro and Tadashi were practically roaring with laughter and the small crowd around them sported various stages of blushes and snickering could be heard.

The student who’d originally called out an insult to the brothers was scarlet faced and speechless.

As a fourteen going on fifteen year old genius Hiro inspired quite a bit of jealousy in his fellow college students and while most were mature about it some resorted to bullying and insults.

It took no time at all once Hiro had started attending SFIT for the more unsavoury to notice the extreme closeness of the Hamada brothers. They worked together, ate together, walked together, shared the same lab space and on one memorable occasion had been found curled together napping on one of the study room couches.

To the students who found Hiro an insufferable brat it was incomprehensible that Tadashi, who already had to live with his genius little brother, would want to spend even more time with him during the day and so the jeers and glares that had followed Hiro since his high school years expanded to include Tadashi too.

In order to combat the evolution of the bullying the Hamada brothers had developed their own defence.

Acting irrevocably and fiercly gay for one another.

It was a hilarious solution, those who were friendly with them saw it as the joke it was and those who weren’t quickly found themselves with a front row seat to one of the most uncomfortable soap operas ever.

“Come on _darling_ ” Tadashi smiled at his brother shouldering the strap of his bag once more “Let’s get to the lab”

Hiro fixed his hair, a crooked grin on his face as he watched the small crowd disperse around them. “Of course _hot-stuff_ , we’ve got things to invent.”

The two of them continued the short walk to the robotics building, deep in discussion about possible upgrades for Baymax and safety improvements for the microbot design.

Stepping through the doors they moved through the general chaos that was the ‘nerd lab’. Wasabi waved from his sectioned corner “Where have you guys been? It’s not like the two of you to be late.”

 Tadashi halted, halfway into their lab when Fred answered from where he was lounging in his chair, eyes peeking over the pages of one of his comics “Another ‘episode’ out in the courtyard, right little dude?”

Hiro ran a hand through his hair back to the door of his and Tadashi’s shared workspace. “How’d you find out so soon?”

“My contacts are everywhere, nothing slips past my network” Fred gestured in his usual grandiose ways, as if how aggressively he could waggle his fingers was indicative of how mysterious he was.

Honey Lemon swept past him a tray filled with colorful beakers in hand “Don’t worry about it too much Hiro we’ve never been able to figure out how he does it either”

Wasabi walked over from his station “You manage to scare another one away?”

Tadashi wrapped his arms around his brother, turning him until they were once again chest to chest laughing.

“My _Sweetheart_ played his part perfectly, even threw in a ‘nii-san’ for good measure.”

Hiro lifted his own arms and wound them behind the taller’s neck “You should have seen the guy’s face, red as the golden gate bridge.”

Everyone shared a small laugh, remembering some of the first victims of the ‘super in love’ act.

“Watch it!”

Gogo rounded the corner on her mag-lev bike, barrelling through the lab at high speed.

Tadashi tightened his grip on Hiro trying to step out of the way of the incoming bike, but he only partially succeeded.  Losing his balance, he pitched forward dragging Hiro with him. Gogo slid her bike to the side, hoped off and lifted her project onto its work rack.

“Sorry guys, the new wheel still isn’t working right I…what?!”

The near collision had managed to knock the two brothers over completely. They were a small tangle of limbs with Hiro splayed underneath his brother legs pushed to the side and framing Tadashi’s waist. Hiro’s arms were still clutched above his brother while Tadashi had braced himself on his forearms which lay on either side of the head below him.

Wide eyed the two stared with vibrant blushes on their face, as much as they’d gotten used to holding each other because of their stupid act they’d never pushed it this far.

Laying on the ground, in a decidedly suggestive position, the two Hamada’s were frozen with their lips pressed together and brains working overtime to understand the situation.

Hiro`s attention was completely on the sensation of the new connection with his brother.

Tadashi was focused on the feel of the warm body beneath his own.

He ripped himself away from his little brother and sat back on his haunches, which only made their position worse as the legs wrapped around his torso slid down until they rested across his hips, effectively putting Tadashi flush against Hiro’s lower body and poised between his spread legs.

“I…I..Uh”

“Oh my gosh! Tadashi! Hiro! Are you guys okay?”

The sound of the voice broke the awkward moment and the two of them separated fully. Tadashi looked into the concerned eyes of Honey before reaching out to steady himself with Wasabi`s offered hand, as Fred helped Hiro back to his feet.

As soon as his little bro was upright he quickly moved away to their lab, privacy windows hiding him from view. 

“You okay there Hamada? You didn`t hit your head did you?”

Tadashi looked back at Gogo before turning his attention to where his brother had disappeared.

“I..I`m fine guys, I`ll talk to you later, I need to get some work done.”

The rest of the gang watched as he paused in front of his door, before quietly slipping inside and shutting it firmly behind him.

Inside the private room Tadashi caught Hiro`s eye from where he was seated at his work table only for the boy to quickly turn away, the scarlet tips of his ears revealing his still blushing state.

Moving to the opposite side of the room Tadashi sat down at his own desk pressing a hand to his lips in bewilderment.

Something had shifted, had been permanently changed.

One thought was running through both their heads as they tried to ignore the newly charged atmosphere between them.


	2. Setting the Stage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Awkwardness is abound and no one is sure how to cope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains severe name calling and shaming as well as some physical violence. Also awkward boners. Enjoy.

The Hamada brothers were no strangers to being physically close.

When Hiro was first born their parents worried that Tadashi might be bothered by the attention the new baby would be getting.

To their, and everyone else’s surprise Tadashi wanted to spend the entire day holding his new brother, and Hiro was never as quiet as when he was in his arms.

That simple habit soon began to evolve. 

Eventually the two of them were inseparable, always playing or relaxing somewhere together. 

Hiro began to look to his brother when learning rather than his parents. Walking, talking and even stuff like getting dressed was all accomplished with his big brother.

There was a phase when Hiro liked to express affection by giving large wet kisses on cheeks.  The first person to receive one every morning was Tadashi.

Then the accident came to pass.

They were so young when it happened. Despite their aunt’s best efforts, she too was grieving and raising her two nephews had never been part of her plans. 

Two beds became one for a time. and until the money could be spared to buy a new one the boys learned to share. 

To stretch the budget bath time became a blur of soap suds and chubby limbs that usually ended in the brothers washing each other’s hair. 

Hiro stopped giving out kisses, but he startled quietly clinging to Tadashi. Looking for comfort on the nights he wondered where his paretns had gone.

As the years rolled by things changed again. 

One bed became two again. Hiro became too big to be carried around all the time. Then the café picked up in popularity to the point where corners needn't be cut so tight and baths were solo time.

Though there was always some form of affection happening. A hand running through hair, playful shoves and unexpected hugs. Sometimes a lazy afternoon would pass watching movies together on the couch . The once inseparable brothers learned to work as two instead of one.

Despite their less than ideal childhood, none of the past prepared them for their current situation.

The again how does one prepare to be locked in a closet wearing only a towel.

Desperately hoping that your only slightly more clothed younger brother would stop moving, and doesn't realize that that is your erection he is currently rubbing his backside all over.

2 days ago

It was a simple bump of Hiro`s shoulder against his torso.

A casual contact that happened  daily in the small stairwells of the Hamada household. 

But the brief contact against his body still sent sparks across Tadashi’s skin. Throwing his mind back to the accidental kiss that they had shared in the lab more than a week ago.

The feeling of pressing down onto Hiro had been pleasing, unexpectedly so.

That revelation was like getting jolted by a stripped wire.Because crossing the barrier of brotherly affection had left his nerves buzzing with warmth.

And an unhealthy interest in doing it again.

He had tried to push the incident from his memories. Tried to smile and be the same kind, caring older brother he’d been for most of his life.

Yet his eyes would stray.

Would run up and down that thin form and marvel at the way the little boy he remembered had grown into an amazing – beautiful – young man.

His gaze would rake across these new undiscovered things about Hiro with fervor.

To the new breadth to his shoulders and an angles to his cheeks that hadn't been there before. To the way Hiro could now run circles around whomever he wanted with his new grace. To The arrogant smirk that was often painted around that tiny gap in his teeth. To the pleasing curve of a bared back and a quick glimpse of hipbones over the waist of a new pair of jeans.

Until finally settling on those big brown eyes.

Then it would come crashing back that this was his baby brother he was checking out, and he would end up red all the way up to his ears.  Part in mortification and part in shamed arousal.

This time was no different.

 After casting his eyes down and mumbling out a quiet “Hiro…” Tadashi just continued down the stairs, his jumbled emotions becoming more and more indecipherable.

If his dreams had begun to feature smaller bodies and half-lidded brown eyes?

Tadashi wouldn't be telling anyone that.

Because they weren’t about lazy days curled together on the couch peppering each other with kisses.

Nor were they about long nights working side by side, with nimble fingers handling more than just machinery.

And they most certainly weren’t filled with small, breathless and _wanton_ cries of Nii-san.

They weren’t.

1 day ago

Hiro had woken at his desk again.

It was easier for him to push the incident from his mind. Easier to replace the memories with abstract math formulas and difficult robotics problems. Easier to distract himself.

 Some nights he’d fall asleep long after finishing his own assignments and forcing himself half way through understanding Honey Lemon’s more chaotic formulas.

Usually he’d look to Tadashi for help, to try and understand what was going on and what he was feeling.

But his brother was part of the problem now and he was avoiding him. Or else he’d experience that uncomfortable warmth surging through him again. It bubbled up from somewhere inside and made his heart jump and palms sweat. Made him ache to touch Tadashi, to hold him close and touch him in ways he hadn’t done in so long and then in ways he never thought he’d want to. Ways that he shouldn’t want to.

Hiro wasn’t completely ignorant when it came to stuff like that.

Even if he’d never actually experienced anything beyond awkward tries in the shower, he was old enough to know about it. Had in fact already known about it since he’d graduated highschool anyways. Teenagers tended to ignore you when you were as short as he was back then, no matter what you walked in on.

Sometimes he’d be able to feel Tadashi’s eyes on him, and he’d shiver. Never knowing what could have caught the elder’s attention so completely when Tadashi was the one who had a body worth admiring.

He would recall for a moment the feel of taunt muscles surrounding him, and all the times he’d been held in those deceptively strong arms.

Then he’d catch the dark look in Tadashi’s eyes. No doubt mirroring his own and the icy feeling of wrong – _right_  – all wrong would settle in his stomach and Hiro would turn away. Each time feeling more confused.

If his dreams had begun to feature larger hands and familiar smiles?

Hiro wouldn't be telling anyone that.

Because they weren’t about waking up with an arm draped across his waist and a sleeping form behind him.

Nor were they about nights spent together sharing inventions and ideas as well as space and breath.

 And they most certainly weren’t filled with deep, strained and  _moaning_  renditions of his name.

They weren’t.

Today

They were at the gym, even if they still found themselves a little of kilter Tadashi was always one to stress the importance of a healthy active lifestyle. So three times a week at a minimum the two of them, sometimes accompanied by Wasabi and sometimes Gogo, made a point to go to the on campus gym facilities.

It was just the two of them this time and they’d already finished for the evening and were freshening up before heading home. The change room was leaning more towards empty than full and Tadashi was content to wash away his stress, and sweat, with a hot shower.

He was almost finished when he heard a commotion out in the lockers.

“Give them back!”

“Give what back Zero? Lose something, did you?”

That was Hiro shouting.

Tadashi switched off the water before wrapping his towel tightly around his waist and stormed into the locker room.

Two boys, neither of which he recognized, had Hiro backed to the wall and were waving clothing high above his head.

Were waving _Hiro’s_ clothing over his head.

Were waving Hiro’s _shorts_ and _boxers_ over his head.

Which meant Hiro was slumped against the wall clad in only his t-shirt trying to spare his modesty by pulling the front down to cover himself.

“Come on Zero, what you hiding under there? Can’t be much if the only one willing to fuck you is your freak of a brother!”

One of the boys slammed his hand against the wall next to Hiro and moved in closer, a twisted smile on his face.

This was not the usual bullying.

“Yeah, I’m right aren’t I. Or maybe you’re willing to spread ‘em for anyone. Did you fuck your way into the school? Let a prof bend you over and use you? That how you got your scholarship?”

Hiro glared daggers at the two of them but Tadashi could see the tears welling up.

“Not sure why anyone would want you though. The two of you are just disgusting pieces of trash. Maybe you should go to the police yeah? Get yourself behind bars where you belong.”

The boy gripped Hiro by the shoulder, hard, if the pained look on Hiro’s face was any indication.

“Don’t worry though. I’m sure they’ll appreciate the new _whore_.”

Tadashi, who at this point, was completely blindsided by the aggression, saw red.

Perhaps if he’d kept his cool, maybe alerted staff personnel, they wouldn’t have ended up in the mess they did.

But he didn’t. Instead he charged at the two boys and, courtesy of some long years of martial arts training and a great amount of anger, punched the one touching Hiro right in the face.

“Hey! What the HELL!”

“Tadashi!”

The ensuing fight was quick and dirty, with heavy hits landed on both boys, but with Tadashi only getting glancing injuries.

Unfortunately two against one doesn’t usually turn out well and Tadashi was shoved into the small supply closet where he crashed against the back wall.

Before he could recover a smaller body impacted with his abdomen when they physically threw Hiro on top of him.

The door was then slammed shut and there was a scraping noise before the sound of hurried footsteps leaving the room took over.

The small space allowed Tadashi to reach up from his current position on the ground to grab the handle and open the door.

Accept that the handle wouldn’t turn. The door wouldn’t even swing open an inch.

They were locked in.

As Tadashi finally started to calm down he started to realize the position they were in.

He was leaning against the wall, his legs spread out in front of him. Towel thankfully still intact.

Hiro, still only dressed in his shirt, was straddling him with arms wrapped around his shoulders and face against his neck.

With Hiro trembling in his lap, and breathing rapidly against the skin of his neck the rush of adrenaline from his anger was quickly being replaced with a different kind of rush.

Tadashi could feel the blood rushing south as Hiro continued to move atop his lap, and the responding growth in a certain part of his anatomy that his brother was definitely not supposed to be feeling.

So the two Hamadas were locked in the supply closet, Hiro unsuspecting while on his brother’s lap and Tadashi trying simultaneously to will away what had to be one of the most inappropriately timed erections in history and beg for Hiro to please stop moving.

 With a slip of his towel and a slide of skin against skin, he moaned instead.


	3. Knowing your Role

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> These new feelings aren't ready to come out of the closet quite yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains some sexual situations. Read at your own risk. Enjoy.

The sound reverberates in the small space. It’s deep and choked off and Tadashi practically digs his nails into his palms because he’s not supposed to like the feel of it, now is not the time and it’s never Hiro that should be making him feel like this.

The body struggling on his lap freezes for only a moment before it’s moving against him all over again and suddenly there are the hands. Small and warm, they touch across his arms and chest before cradling his face and the fire inside calms just a little bit because he can see tears shining in Hiro’s eyes.

“Tadashi? Come on, talk to me! Tadashi!?”

He almost laughs because as much as Hiro tells him he needs to look out for himself more, Tadashi thinks that they both have the same problem. His own hand is running through Hiro’s hair and he clears his throat. “Hiro…I’m fin-”

“No you’re NOT! They hit you and you’re bleeding and that’s not right because it’s my entire fault!” Hiro is pushing his hand away at the same time he’s curling closer to his chest.

“Hiro…”

“They wouldn’t hurt you, or call you all those things, or even do any of this stuff if you didn’t know me! If you would just stop protecting me! Stop acting with me like that! I should have never started it! I don’t deserve it! I don’t deserve you… I don’t…” Hiro rubs at his eyes but his tears are already running and if they were any further apart than at that moment Tadashi would have missed Hiro’s whispered confession.

“ _I don’t want it to be an act anymore.”_

It’s like a punch in the gut to hear those words coming from Hiro and despite furious amount of concentration; the blush rises back into Tadashi’s cheeks.

Because that can’t be what it sounds like. Hiro doesn’t know what something like that would mean. _But there were those conversations years ago, when a confused 11 year old came home from school with certain question._

Hiro is too young to be feeling something like that. _Only after that first time he showed him how to get his sheets clean without Aunt Cass seeing, he knows he isn’t that young anymore._

Hiro can’t want that. _Because Tadashi isn’t sure what he wants anymore._

But Hiro finally let’s him press a palm to his back, willing away the slight tremble. They’re sitting together in this dark closet and he shivers at the way that Hiro’s thighs are sliding against his hips.

They haven’t been this close to each other since that day at the lab, and he can feel himself heating up all over again remembering how it felt.

Tadashi reached his unoccupied hand up and gently tilted Hiro’s head until they were once more face to face. The light coming in from the frosted window on the door is only just enough to make the familiar features distinguishable but he doesn’t need to see in order to know that the small brushes of air against his lips are coming from Hiro’s.

Neither of them knows who makes the first move but in an instant their lips are pressed together. They both rear back, terrified that the other will push away.

But then it happens again.

And again.

And again.

Tadashi is lost. He nips at Hiro’s lip, pulling the bottom between his teeth before gently sucking at the bite.  His hands have wandered downwards twisting themselves in the bottom hem of Hiro’s shirt and fingers brushing against skin.

Hiro is leaning right against his chest, soft pants of his name tumbling out of his open mouth as he tries to press even closer. “Tadashi…please.”

Tadashi wastes no time, leaning back in and sweeping Hiro into an open kiss.

He’s licking his way deeper into the kiss, its sloppy, wet and everything he’s been dreaming about for weeks and god aunt Cass’s stupid romance novels may actually make a little sense now because… wow.

Everything is hot and there is no way that that towel is covering him anymore but he doesn’t care because he’s not sure this is even a kiss anymore with the way their tongues are trying to make love.

He hikes the smaller body up higher, hands spread wide and kneading at bare flesh, pushing down as he presses his hips up and his groan meets a whine, pitched in a way he’d never dared to hear before.

He’s almost there. Can feeling building up slowly. He shifts forward, pitching the two of them down until the smaller is underneath him like that day.

But they’d stopped that day, before they’d gotten trapped in such a melting kiss.

Stopped before he’d gotten legs spread around his thighs.

Stopped before he began rocking against him moving to the sounds they made together.

Before he could feel the start of an orgasm burn its way through his body, they stopped. He stopped.

He needed to stop.

This was _Hiro._

It was the magic word.

Tadashi ripped himself off Hiro. Hands on the cold ground supporting him as he leaned over his brother.

_Just like that day_

He stayed like that, catching his breath and trying to stay calm in the storms his thoughts were becoming. He looked down at Hiro, whose eyes were cast to the side and whose chest was heaving just as hard. He let his head thunk down onto the floor over Hiro’s shoulder, cooling the sweat that had built on his brow. It took a few minutes and some aborted starts before he managed to get out a complete sentence.

 “We need to go home…”

The reply sounded just as lost as he was.

“Alright.”


	4. Callback

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What could he possibly say to fix this.

The house was quiet.

The ride home had been an awkward mix of trying not to notice the arms circled around his waist and of trying not to crash into the telephone poles.

He didn’t know if he should curse or praise his luck when he spied the note resting on the counter, the message of a late night call and some old friends just breezing through town all the explanation needed for the lack of a human presence in the house.

Hiro wouldn’t look at him, kept his gaze trained on the floor and shuffling his way slowly beside him. Good he thought, he didn’t deserve even a moment to explain himself, to apologize. His eye was starting to ache, and in the morning he’d no doubt have a black bruise on his face. A little brand that would remind him how wrong he was every time he dared look in the mirror.

“Hiro, I…” The smaller had his arms crossed and shoulders hunched in a protective little shell if Tadashi had ever seen one and whatever ideas he had of maybe talking this out puttered out as his heart started to crumble at the edges. He took the stairs two at a time and slid the divider closed so fast it rattled back open, he breathed in and out trying not to think that he made Hiro think he had to protect himself when he was around, tried not to picture what caused it, tried not to remember the moment his control snapped like a wire stretched too thin. He must have sat down because his hands were gripping at his blankets, nails trying to dig their way through well-loved fabric.  Everything blurred and tears threatened to spill out for the first time in so long, why couldn’t he have just left everything like it was, been that port in a storm that was always there, the unshakable rock, why did he have to feel… why did it have to be Hiro?

There was a creak of old floorboards and something cold plopped down onto his head.  He whipped his head up to look at his precious brother, shifting from foot to foot and teeth worrying at his lip. Tadashi was about as frozen as the bag of peas that had just slipped onto his lap.

Hiro just plucked up the bag before pressing it as gently as possible against his swollen eye, hand lingering until Tadashi took the hint and held the impromptu ice pack to his injury.

Tadashi was fit to tear himself apart, words pilling up at the back of his throat, actually that might have been bile, but either way he just swallowed them back down thinking that there might not be anything he could say to make this right. Best to start with an apology even if he couldn’t say anything else, he took a calming breath.

“I love you.”

That wasn’t an apology. That wasn’t his voice.

Hiro was standing there, his ear scarlet beneath his hair and wearing a brave face like he had his own share of tears bubbling up in his eyes.

“Hiro wh-”

“You’re an idiot. I love you”

“Hi-”

“I love you and I’m going to keep saying it until you get yourself out of that thick head of yours!”

“…”

Tadashi couldn’t help it, trust Hiro to breeze through such a complicated problem like he always had, a small sad smile slipped onto his face. Alright, Hamada Brother’s Rule: no running away from a challenge. His voice might have tumbled over the words but they were the truth.

“I …love you too. Have for a long time I think.”

 Hiro looked him in the eye and gave a quick nod, plopped down on the bed next to him and wound his fingers with those of his unoccupied hand.

“Now what.”

And wasn’t that just it. Whatever it was that was building between them, how long could they keep it just between themselves. How deep could the feelings go… how long had they been there. Tadashi swept his thumb across Hiro’s knuckles, a small measure of comfort but welcome none the less if the slight tightening of his grip was anything to go by.

“I don’t know.”

He didn’t know what he was doing. Didn’t know how he could just go and say something like that. Didn’t know how this couldn’t be an abuse of his relationship with Hiro. A hand on his chest pushed him back into the bed with a soft thump and his ice pack slipped off as he had to tilt his head to look at Hiro who was settling beside him, shoes kicked to the floor and clasped hands placed between them like a lifeline.

“Stop thinking so hard nerd.”

His feet were dangling off the edge of the mattress but he turned to Hiro and their faces were only inches apart for the second time in not nearly enough hours.

“Hiro… you know what this is. What we were doing, I almost… I – you know how someone else – anyone else will see this.”

He couldn’t bring himself to say he’d almost fucked his brother on the floor of a utility closet.  Was still half pushing the memory down.

Hiro blew out a huff of breath.

“Yeah… I know. It might not seem like it… but I know.”

“We won’t be going anywhere with it for a long time Hiro.”

A thoughtful sigh and Hiro snuggled closer into his chest.

“I figured that… but I don’t think I can make any promises.”

Tadashi blinked before wrapping his arm across the small back.

“I’m not sure I can either.”

His hand had settled at the base of Hiro’s neck, his feet had migrated onto the bed dragon a corner of blanket with them. They’d need to move soon but they both needed this right now. Hiro’s voice drifted up from under the blanket.

“We’ve been playing at this so long, is it really going to change so much?”

His eyes were heavy, and blinking pushed the remnants of his uncried tears down his cheeks.

“Playing at what?”

Hiro’s head popped up, his own stress tracking its way down his face in salty trails.

“Being in love.”

Oh. He laughed lightly as the tears started to run more freely. His emotions were all over the place and one talk and half-baked ideas weren’t going to change that.

“I don’t think I ever really played at being in love with you Hiro.”

Hiro sniffed and buried his head back into their embrace.

“…Love you Dashi.”

Everything was going to change, probably so much more than either of them could comprehend. Horror stories and nightmares were still crawling their way out of the back of his mind and he was still blaming himself for dragging Hiro into something that was obviously his fault. But he could do one night. Hold his love in his arms without concern for one night. He could figure out something tomorrow. Tonight was okay.

“Love you Hiro.”

It was the best the both of them had slept in a long time.


End file.
